Rainwater gutter assemblies are typically positioned just below the edge of a roof of a structure on the so-called fascia board or other supporting surface. Water which runs off of the roof is received by the gutter and is channeled to a suitable downspout or the like and directed away from the structure. While gutter assemblies of wood or metal have long been used, plastic gutter assemblies are becoming increasingly popular in view of their ease of installation, corrosion-resistance and durability, and attractive appearance.
One design feature which is inherent in most gutter assemblies is configuration for mounting on a vertically oriented fascia board or like surface. While many fascia boards of structures are in fact vertically oriented, it is not at all unusual for the fascia board of a structure to be reversely or inwardly inclined for decorative effect. In the past, this has not unduly complicated installation of gutter assemblies since most roofs were of only two different standardized pitches, such as four-to-twelve or six-to-twelve, referring to the rise of the roof in feet for every twelve feet of its span. Thus, reversely inclined fascia boards were ordinarily of one or two different corresponding angles from the vertical, and installation of a gutter assembly in its correct horizontal disposition was accommodated by the provision of wedges or the like.
More recently, the use of prefabricated roof trusses has become increasingly widespread in view of the sophisticated load-bearing configurations that can be achieved with the economy of mass-production. By these prefabrication techniques, a wider range of roof pitches for residential structures can be readily achieved, and roof pitches may range from three-to-twelve to ten-to-twelve. Fascia boards affixed perpendicularly to the rafters of such roofs can therefore vary from about fourteen degrees to about forty degrees from the vertical.
Accordingly, it is very desirable to provide an adjustable mounting arrangement for a gutter assembly to facilitate mounting of the gutter in a horizontal disposition on fascia boards or like supporting surfaces of varying angular dispositions with respect to the vertical.